1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gutter cap, a gutter cap bracket and a gutter cap forming tool that may be used to make a gutter cap assembly.
2. Background Art
Gutters are provided on houses and other buildings to collect rain water flowing off of a roof and direct the water to down spouts that in turn direct the water away from the foundation of the house or building. While gutters perform a valuable function, the effectiveness of gutters is adversely affected by the accumulation of debris in the gutters. The flow of water in gutters may be blocked by an accumulation of debris that may form a dam preventing water from flowing through the gutters to the down spout. Gutters may overflow if the water is prevented from flowing through the gutter. Water flowing off of the roof that overflows the gutters defeats the purpose of the gutters. Debris in gutters can also lead to the formation of ice dams on the roof that can damage the roof of the building.
Cleaning gutters is a difficult and sometimes dangerous chore. A person generally must use a ladder to reach a clogged gutter to manually remove debris. Debris such as leaves, seeds, pine needles, twigs and other material may fall on a roof and may be washed into the gutters where it may accumulate. While hand tools and hose attachments have been developed to make the process of cleaning gutters less difficult, this is one chore that homeowners would rather avoid.
Gutter caps have been developed that cover the top of a gutter to prevent debris from being deposited in the gutter. Gutter caps allow water to flow around an arcuate flow path to the underside of the gutter cap as a result of the surface tension of the water.
One problem associated with gutter caps is that they are generally fabricated off-site in a factory and shipped in predetermined lengths to a job site where they are cut and assembled. Prefabricated gutter caps are relatively costly. There is a need for a gutter cap that may be made to custom sizes without unnecessary scrap or waste that is associated with gutter caps that are provided in predetermined lengths.
Prefabricated gutter caps are generally only available in aluminum and in a limited number of colors. There is a need for a tool for forming gutter caps on site that may be made of a variety of different materials and may be provided in a wide range of colors to match the wide range of aluminum and vinyl siding colors that are currently available.
Gutter caps that are currently available generally require that the gutter be removed and replaced at a lower height on the house or building to provide the proper pitch for the gutter cap so that the water may flow down the roof, across the gutter cap and into the gutter while preventing debris from entering the gutter. In addition, prefabricated gutter caps tend to be difficult to install because it is hard to hold a long length of gutter cap material in place while it is being secured to a gutter on a building.
Installation systems used with prior art gutter caps generally require brackets that may cause the gutter cap to interfere with gutter spikes that are used to secure the gutter to a building. Generally, the brackets for a gutter cap are independent from other gutter mounting hardware such as gutter spikes and sleeves. Frequently, gutter caps must be notched to accommodate gutter spikes and sleeves. There is a need for gutter cap assembly system that may be used without interfering with gutter spikes and sleeves while providing a simple installation procedure.
Prior art brackets generally have fastener receptacle holes that are difficult to locate while standing on a ladder and working in the limited space provided between the gutter and gutter cap. There is a need for a bracket that is easy to install and constrains the gutter cap with or without a fastener.
Recently, a gutter cap forming tool known as the Gutter Wizard® was developed that is currently being offered at the website “BuildingSolution.com”. The Gutter Wizard® product is an on-site gutter cap fabrication tool. While the ability to provide an on-site gutter fabricating tool offers certain advantages, the Gutter Wizard® tool requires that a flange be formed in a sheet stock blank using a separate bending brake tool. The flange is inserted lengthwise into an L-shaped longitudinally extending slot in the Gutter Wizard® tool. The Gutter Wizard® tool tends to be difficult to use because it is difficult to slide the flange, full length, into the tool. This is particularly the case if the flange is improperly formed and is longer than the size of the L-shaped longitudinally extending slot. Also, if the flange is disposed at angle that varies substantially from 90°, it can be difficult to insert in the tool.
Gutter caps made with the Gutter Wizard® tool suffer from variation and distortion in the gutter cap shape that may be caused by bending the forming rolls during the forming process. Distortion is a particular problem with thicker gauge material that may be used to form the gutter cap.
Gutter caps made with the Gutter Wizard® tool are not well suited for retrofit jobs on which gutters are hung at normal gutter height which is about 1.5 inches below the roof edge. The Gutter Wizard® tool has a range of forming motion of only about 175° about a stationary ¾″ diameter roller and the blank springs back to a different degree depending upon the thickness and material of the blank. For example, 0.019 aluminum sheet springs back 75° to 100° and 0.027 aluminum sheet springs back 42° to 133°. Typically, more than 2 inches of spacing is required between the top of the gutter and the roof edge which necessitates removing and remounting the gutter for most retrofit jobs.
There is a need for an efficient, all-in-one tool for on-site fabrication of gutter caps. It is important that the tool be easy to use and capable of fabricating gutter caps from standard sheet blanks of different materials and thickness. It is also important that the gutter cap fabrication tool be lightweight and portable for on-site applications.
The above problems and needs are addressed by applicant's invention as summarized below.